The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-03-24
elaborate affairs of their lives are misera-


going another way. l SAID to myself:
''How is it that the same wind sends one
vessel in one direction and another vessel
in another direction?''
found out, by looking, that it was the
different way they had the sails set. And
so does trouble come in this world Some
men it drives into the harbor of heaven,
and other men it drives on the rocks. 1t
depends upon the way you have your sails
set. All the Atlantic and Pacific oceans
OF surging sorrow can not sink soul that
has asked for Gods pilotage. The diff
Guilty is, that when we have misfortunes
of any kind, we put them in Gods hand,
and they stay there little while, and
then we go and get them again, and bring
them back.
A vessel comes in from foreign port
As it comes near the harbor it sees pilot
floating about. 1t halls the pilot. The
pilot comes on board and he avs:
SNOW, Captain. you have had stormy
passage. Go down and sleep, and will
take the vessel into New York harbor"
After awhile the Captain begins to
think:
cam right in trusting this vessel to
that pilot guess rll go up and see."
So he comes to the pilot aud says:
"Don't you see that rocka Don't you
see those headlandsa You will wreck the
ship. Let me lay hold the helm for
awhile for myself, and then pll trust to
your
The pilot becomes angry and says:
: 81 will either take care of this ship or
not. If you want to / will get into my
yawl and go ashore or back to my boat"
Now, we say to the Lord:
10, God, take my life, take my all. in
Thy keepingl Be Thou my guide, be Thou
my pilot"
We go along for little while, and sud
denly wake up and say:
fittings are gong all wrong. o, Lord,
we are driving on these rocks and Thou
art going to let US be shipwrecked"
God says: "You go and rest. will take
charge of this vessel, and take it into the
harbor."
1t is Gods business to comfort, and it is
our business to be comforted Herbert,
the great thinker, philosophical about
himself, philosophical about this world
philosophical about every thing: then, in
in his dying moments, asked that only
one word might be cut upon his tomb
stone, and that word "Infelielssmus''-
most nhappy-descriptive of the lives
and OF the deaths of those who take their
case out of the hands of God. The only
appropriate inscription for their banquet
ing hall, and their equipage, and the wall
of their eternal prison-house-"Infelic
simus.n I'm drooling, moral idiocy they
are scrabbling at the door of their happi-
ness, which never opens; miserably play
ing the fool
Again, remark that all those persons
NAV the fool ony.ta nj n n
Of the text, who allow the technicalIties of
religion to stop their salvation. David
was wise about a great many things, but
his cuttings-up in the text for little
while eclipsed his character. And
know wise men and great mon
competent for all other stations, who
are acting a silly and foolish part in re-
gard to the technicalities of religion.
They ask us some questions which we
can not answer categorically, and so they
burst into broad guffaw, as though it is
OF any more interest to US than it ought
to be to them. About the atonement.
about Gods DEGREES, about mans destiny,
they ask great many questions which
we can not answer. and so they deride us,
as though we could not ask them a thou
sand questions that they can not answer,
about their eyes, about their ears, about
their finger nails, about every thing A
fool can ask question that wise man
can not answer. 0, you caviling men!
o, you profound men! o, you learned
men, do please admit something. You
have soula Yes. Will it live forevers
Yes. Wheres You say that Jesus Christ
is not divine Saviour Who is he! Where
will you go after you leave your law
books, and your medical prescriptions,
and your club-room, and your newspaper
office-where will you go to? Your BODY
will be six feet underground Where will
you soul be! The black coat will be off.
the shroud on. Those spectacles will be
removed from your vision, for the sod
will press your eye-lids. Have you
any idea that an earthly almanac d.
scribes the years of your lifetime! of
what stuff shall gather the material for
the letters of that word which describes
your eternal home2 Shall it be iron chain
or amaranthine garlandq The air that
bestirs the besweated locks of your dying
pillow, will it come off garden or a
desert2
Oh, quit the puzzling questions and try
these momentous questions. Quit the
small questions and try these great uues-
tons. Instead of discussing whether the
serpent in Eden was figurative or literal,
whether the Mediterranean fish did or lid
not swallow the recreant prophet, whether
this and that and the other thing is right
or wrong, come and discuss the question:
'How shall get rid of my sins and win
Heavena" That is the question for you.
Yea, there have been men who have act
ually losttheir souls because they thought
there was discrepancy between Moses
and Prof. Silliman-because they could not
understand how there could be light
before the sun rose-the light appearing
in verse three of Genesis, aud the sun ap-
pearing not until verse sixtean-and be-
cause they do not know how the moon
could stand still without upset
ting the universe, and because
they had decided upon the theory of
natural selection. A German philosopher
in dying had for his chief sorrow that he
had not devoted his whole life to the study
OF the dative case. Oh, when your i'm
mortality is in peril, why quibblea Quit
these non-essentials, my dear brother. In
the name of God, l ask you in regard to
these matters Of the immortal soul that
you do not play the fool.
What is that man doing in Bowling
Green, New Yorks Well, he is going in
for ticket for transatlantic voyage.
He is quarreling with the clerk about the
spots-the red spots IN the tictat-and ba